


We Didn't Need Words

by JugdralDefender



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 08:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8280091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JugdralDefender/pseuds/JugdralDefender
Summary: {Oneshot}Sety never did vocalize his thoughts well on an emotional level, and he wasn't expecting someone to recognize his feelings for the Liberation Army's leader. Once Leen does, he can't find himself regretting the gift bought with only Celice in mind.





	

Was this a stupid idea?

As soon as Sety’s eyes located the young Liberation Army leader, he wasn’t sure he couldn’t call these second thoughts. Wasn’t this strange? He had thought about it for quite a while, even before he went through with half of it.

Something had been nagging him at some point during the army’s time in Thracia, but it was far more apparent after the battle of Peruluke subsided. For a short time, the army was able to take it easy, and that wasn’t something they even once thought about while in Thracia.

Actually, Sety personally hadn’t been particularly relaxed at all ever since he left Silesia. For the most part, to date, he still wasn’t, but he had loosened up noticeably enough for Fee to comment on it a third of the way through Thracia’s lands. Not that he was ever particularly open and inviting, but it sounded like an obvious difference to someone who knew him for most of his life.

Thankfully his sister hadn’t caught on, nor noticed the accidental lengthened gazes. She was quite occupied herself as it was to notice, doing the same for someone else. As long as the girl was wrapped up in giggling with Corpul, Sety considered himself lucky that she wouldn’t have the time to catch on. Not that she even seemed to notice her own feelings for Corpul, but so help him if she ever asked why he seemed intent on Celice’s company.

Did Celice even wear jewelry? He had never seen it on the leader, serving to make him sufficiently more aggravated at himself for not thinking this through. He could have at least asked someone… or rather, that was the sensible thing to do for someone who wasn’t concerned what kind of thoughts the one asked would have about it. The Isaac group would probably know best, but Shanan and Oifaye were more than likely to figure him out in a second flat if he asked them; especially judging by the way those two hung around each other. The girls were thinking about romance on a regular basis, Skasaher and Delmud would have figured it out in conversation, and considering Lester _had_ experience in this field, he was the one most out of the question with the way Sety noticed him flirting with Patty (usually with the return of some kind of remark from the thief).

Maybe he was the only one too stubborn about pride to let others know. If he told Celice, of course he trusted to keep it a secret… but why, exactly, _didn’t_ he tell Celice?

Fear?

Sety had never cared about someone not accepting him or wanting his company. He was used to being by himself. Still, if for some reason Celice backed off from him entirely, aggravation at himself would become seething. Hopefully this was enough of a roundabout way…

For now, he would excuse himself. Not only did Celice seem busy, but he seemed to be in contemplation of something. Waiting that one extra moment was a worse idea than going through with this, however, and he found himself walking away without thought to doing so as soon as he heard something about Celice and a “wife” once he took back Grandbell.

Took back? He never even had it to begin with.

-

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were preparing food. I would have cleaned up the rest of my mess here if I had known!”

Sety’s attention was directed to the dancer, blinking first, then shrugging. “It’s fine. It’s not in the way, and I could have moved it aside if I needed room. I didn’t know whose food prep that was.”

Scurrying over regardless, Leen began to move the items around and put things back into place. “I was going to start making snacks for everyone for the evening, but I decided it was too soon after dinner and planned to wait. Patty got my attention since the girls all want to hang out tonight and I totally forgot to put everything away! What about you, though? Late dinner?”

“I can’t trust Fee to cook anything if we value our cooking supplies and don’t want to waste food. It’s a late dinner for her since she was out practicing the staff with Corpul at dinnertime. There’s extra here for him too, but I doubt even between the two of them that they’ll finish it. If you know anyone that wants more of anything, mind letting them know?”

“Ah, sure! Haha… Corpul and your sister? They get along so nicely. I’m used to seeing mercenary brutes, so… watching them have so much fun together is relaxing to me. You seem pretty uptight yourself a lot. I mean… ah, well, I don’t mean anything negative by that. You just don’t seem to relax very often, but you seem fine when you’re by yourself.”

Moving to prepare plates and utensils, he looked over at her with light surprise. “You noticed?”

“Uh-huh. Since I’m a dancer, I’ve travelled to a lot of places and seen lots of people. I’ve learned to pick up on things. You’ve just been more of a struggle to learn about since you’re hardly ever there when everyone our age is in a small casual group.”

Preferable. There were a lot of things Sety preferred people didn’t know about. In a way though, it may have looked too secretive. It didn’t seem to deter everyone, but it wouldn’t surprise him if anyone was even slightly scared to speak him. Someone with more power than he knew what to do with spending his time with the fewest amount of people possible and otherwise seeming like he enjoyed solitude? He didn’t enjoy that, and people did probably get the wrong impression on a regular basis.

Had Celice ever…?

“Well, I guess I’m in the safe zone since you’re talking to me right now.” Leen giggled as she could confirm some of the odd rumors about Sety weren’t at all true. Maybe he was a bit of a loner most days, but he certainly didn’t have an aversion to girls. “You only seem to hang around a few people, but everyone notices it most with Lord Celice and Lord Leaf. Well, your sister aside. There are only a few others… but I’d like to get to know you if I can. Not that I’ll buy into your time with those two. They look really happy talking with you. Lord Celice seems so stressed sometimes, but he’s always friendly and smiling with you.”

That was something Sety could definitely say he hadn’t noticed. He had thought Celice was like to everyone. A facade…? “He’s not friendly with everyone?”

“Well, he is, but see… I used to pretend to be friendly too since I was a dancer. I had to make money, and being a rude girl who declared people weren’t giving her money worth her time and grief wouldn’t get me anything. I can tell when he’s forcing it, since I had to do the same for a long time. We may be in totally different situations, but it’s not that different when you’re forced to fake cheerfulness because your position demands it.”

“I certainly don’t fake being cheerful just because I’m a prince. If I’m not that kind of person, I see no reason to pretend I am.”

“Seconded. You don’t even seem happy most days.”

At the very least, Sety managed to crack the tiniest smile back at her. “Besides for you, Lord Celice is really the only one that up front with me and not afraid to be.”

“That’s just how I am, I guess. I’m more open to speaking my mind now that I have everyone here with me. In a way, you’re like me in that regard. ...If I can ask this, that’s why you hang around with him so much, right?”

“...You noticed?” He didn’t stop in getting the food ready though. Leen wouldn’t go running out of here to tell everyone.

“Well, I guess ‘cause we’re similar in that way that I can compare the way you are with him to the way I am with Delmud. I mean, I don’t fake how I am with Aless, and I never really have. I’m beyond grateful I got to meet him, because thanks to him I’m here, and thanks to that… I met his cousin, who is everything I’ve never gotten to meet on my travels. No odd looks for being a dancer and hardly covered with any clothes… Not being a typical woman… I might be intruding a bit now, but I do think you’re a bit grateful to your father. If not for him, Lord Celice wouldn’t have the guidance he does have, and that guidance brought him to you.”

“Grateful to my father… Well… I am grateful to him, for a lot of things. I’m reluctant to show it because as soon as anything gets personal with him, he completely backs off and closes himself off. Lord Celice is the only one I can talk to about him on level, with any kind of understanding. Fee will just get angry and start seething on a good day, yelling if it’s a particularly bad day.”

“It’s not just about your father though, right? It’s something between the two of you. Delmud and I met and at first all I could really do was tell him about his cousin who I had been travelling with and helping them get to know each other. Now he’s so important to me I’d be devastated if I lost him.”

Ah, right. Sety could recall having such thoughts during the battle of Peruluke. “You and Delmud are engaged. It’s not quite the same.”

“If I’m not mistaken though, aren’t the feelings the same? That’s more important than a ring.”

“...More important than a necklace that might show it?”

She blinked now, almost curiously, head tilting just barely. He noticed the pause, but waited for her to continue.

“Is that how you want to express your feelings if you don’t feel confident voicing them?”

“I don’t even know if Lord Celice is interested in things like that. It wasn’t the smartest idea and it was a whim while he took Yuria shopping.” The idea of it still made him mildly queasy, but he left that part out. He knew the two were attached to each other, and he knew his father had been taking care of Yuria for quite a while. If nothing else, it felt like an absolute embarrassing jealousy.

“Haha, well… I think Lord Celice likes you. When you’re not around with everyone else, he gets a little sad. He’s said he wants to be with you more. He doesn’t have to wear a necklace to cherish it and keep it somewhere safe. Even if he doesn’t respond with the same feelings, Lord Celice isn’t the type to just throw something away if someone who cherishes him gave him a gift. You bought it for him when we all went shopping, right?”

Finishing getting Fee’s dinner together, he sighed. “In any case, you’re damn well the only one who has gotten this far into this kind of conversation with me. Actually, even the start of it. The food will get cold if I wait to even _try_ getting myself together. If you think I should do something about him, I’d rather not have this conversation with my sister in the room.”

Leen nodded in definite understanding, tapping a finger to her chin as she put her head back to think. Considering Sety’s personality, he definitely didn’t seem like he’d just explain his feelings. “... ...Hmmm… I think you should just give it to him and let things go from there. Don’t tell him anything and let it play out. If he does actually think of you the same way, he’ll either figure it out when you give that to him, or… he’ll probably feel more confident himself in expressing those feelings to you. If it’s the same, you’ll almost certainly know if you give that to him with or without saying anything about yourself.”

He waited before giving a small nod. How weird it was that this conversation even happened, and so naturally. Leen was mysterious herself, but he had been grateful it was her to walk in.

For now, he felt no need to respond to that, instead switching topics briefly. “I’m going to get my sister. I’ll clean up once she’s here if you want to continue your own work.”

“Thanks!” Leen nodded and grinned cheerfully, actually relieved herself to be able to have that conversation.

Wait. Did she just play matchmaker?

-

Luckily the food had been enough to distract Fee from asking why Sety and Leen were hanging out alone together for longer than half a minute. It had been enough time for him to get out of there and leave the dancer to her own cooking. It worked out nicely, at least, considering she and Corpul seemed to also get along well, and the older girl definitely kept a smile on Fee’s face.

Once again, upon seeing Celice, Sety realized he hadn’t thought this through at all. No specific way of approach, nothing specific to start any kind of conversation… The fact that he had never felt interested in anyone this way before was the factor he was going to blame for how utterly awkward all of this was on his end.

Before he had time to get the other’s attention, Celice had already looked over and was bubbly in an instant, feet rushing him over to greet his companion. The smile turned into a pout, lighthearted as it was.

“You weren’t at dinner again.”

“I was--”

“Eating by yourself while you were making plans to help Levin for tomorrow’s meeting. Right?”

“...Er… Is that bad?”

“It’s not bad, really… I know you want to help him and at least use it as a way to get bridge the distance between you two. It’s more that it’s just another day out of a lot of days that you’re not around.”

“I suppose I’m just horrible at interacting with people. That aside…”

“Not ‘ _aside’_! I was looking for you because you didn’t show up again, and I’ve been starting to get worried. About you, and… am I a cause for annoyance...?”

Shaking his head, Sety sighed. “You were looking for me, I was looking for you… I guess I can at least hope they were for similar reasons.”

“Hm?” He looked confused now, and the Silesian prince almost sighed again at managing to worm out of that conversation.

“This. This is what I was looking for you for.” Removing the item from his pack of tomes and other items, he pulled out Celice’s hand, dropping the closed box into it.

Celice blinked in curiosity at it, never knowing Sety to have things that looked like this on his person. Once he’d opened it, he took the time to examine it after it pulling the necklace out. He looked shocked suddenly, eyes wide as he returned his attention to Sety. “This is _expensive_! This is, like… one of the most expensive kinds of diamonds in the world! What are you doing giving this to me?!”

“That’s why I’m giving it to you. If not for you, I’d still be spending my money on nothing but food and tome repairs. I’m sure Silesia’s coffers could handle a simple necklace if my own funds couldn’t.”

“You can’t just pay for things with your country’s money for something so… so… not formally recognized by our countries! Before the war is even war!”

“Tell one of those countries’ missing kings that if he doesn’t go back after the war, Silesia’s coffers are paying for it personally.”

“ _Blackmail!_ ”Celice feigned shock and laughed, pulling the necklace to himself and fastening it around his neck. Pulling it back up into his line of sight, he examined it again. “...It really is expensive though. Why did you think of me for something like this?”

It was quiet, and Celice hardly heard the initial response.

“...I’m always thinking of you.”

Looking up and putting the necklace back against himself, he blinked with a smile. “Hm?”

“Consider it gratitude. A means to thank you. I don’t think I’ve shown it that well… but hopefully that necklace can for me.”

The smile became fonder, and Celice nodded. “...Yeah. I think it can. I’ll think of a way to say thank you too then, since you’ve done more for me than helping us significantly in battles and through counsel.”

“I what…?”

“I’ll tell you someday… Someday before this war is over. I have to think it over to figure out what I’m going to do once everyone is so far apart… which includes us. I need a solution before then so we’ll never have to be apart like that.”

“Celice, you don’t need to--”

“I need to if it matters to me. I can’t just replace your company, Sety. I also can’t just repay you with something of equal value because I don’t have that kind of money.”

“You’ve already repaid me. That feeling is enough.”

“... ...I… can accept that for now. Once I find an answer for myself too, I’ll tell you. ...Will you wait for me?”

“Longer than my lifespan could.”

Celice smiled much more fondly now, bringing the smallest of smiles to Sety as well. “Thanks… I’ll do my best not to keep you waiting too long. In the meantime… stay by my side?”

“I had no intention of ever leaving it.”

_With you at my side now, I can’t go back to the way I was._


End file.
